I Didn't Need a Landline, Anyway

My people have a saying:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, it's time to swtich to Cavalier Telephone.

Fucking RBOC Verizon.

So after cancelling my service appointment on Thursday, I had a super-special manager's service call appointment, with an almost-unheard of 4-hour service window (between 4pm and 8pm).

They'd left me two messages in the morning, and another one at 5pm, making extra sure I knew about this, so I thought I was in good shape.

At about 7:30, I started getting worried.

At 8pm, I was livid.

At 8:30pm, I had calmed down enough to call the service center.

I asked them what happened to my appointment.

"Oh, it looks like the tech had to postpone it to the following morning."

Indeed.

To make matters better, the service window was 8am to 6pm.

So we've gone from 8 hours, to 4 hours, then up to 10 hours.

"Well, you're the fourth call on his list, so he'll probably get there around 11am."

Super.

I went to Cafe Montmarte and got...well, not hammered, but there was some drinking involved.

It was pretty lively there, too. In fact, when I left Lake Anne after midnight, for some reason, it looked like a Fairfax County Police Department social gathering.

Skip ahead to Saturday.

Tech gets there around 11am. So far, so good.

Looks at the box outside. Tests it (which I can't do, since it has an old 4-wire connection, not a modular jack).

He tells me the problem is with the lines somewhere outside the house. That's fine, I already knew that.

Unfortunately, he's an inside-line guy. So he has to call it in. But the outside line folks aren't going to be that busy, so they'll probably get here today, and I don't have to be there.

Saga continues....